IN THIS GUIDE · Separate the qualifying foreign period from the managerial-role evidence
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Build the relevant individual chronology
Hypothetical example: an applicant has several periods with a group and a separate career elsewhere. Generally one continuous qualifying foreign employment year within the relevant preceding three years must be established under the applicable timeline. Do not add unrelated periods and assume the resulting career total answers the condition.
Explain the actual primary duties
Identify managerial or executive authority and who performs operational work. A function manager primarily manages an essential function rather than personally performing it. There is no universal headcount or task-percentage shortcut that guarantees a qualifying role; the actual organization and duties need assessment.
Prove qualifying organizations and activity
Establish genuine parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationships and doing business. Payroll totals alone do not establish ownership or control. Regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services matters; registration is not enough.
Apply the actual new-office timeline
For a U.S. organization doing business for less than one year, L-1A requires sufficient premises, qualifying foreign managerial or executive employment and capacity to support the intended U.S. managerial or executive role within one year of approval. Initial approval is limited to at most one year. The employment-year and launch-year questions are different calculations.
Establish the qualifying foreign year and active organizations
The foreign employment generally must include one continuous qualifying year within the relevant preceding three-year period, assessed on the individual facts. U.S. days do not count toward that foreign year; a trip should not automatically be treated as breaking continuity. The qualifying organization must do business in the United States and at least one other country during the relevant period, through regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services rather than registration alone. The qualifying foreign employment must be full-time and may be managerial, executive or specialized knowledge in an ordinary petition; the proposed U.S. role must meet the requested L-1 classification.
Connect service to the proposed managerial assignment
Managerial capacity means managing the organization, or a department, subdivision, function or component of it; supervising other supervisory, professional or managerial employees or managing an essential function; holding authority over personnel decisions or functioning at a senior level; and exercising discretion over day-to-day operations. Continuing involvement with the foreign entity is common and is not by itself a problem, but the proposed position still has to be primarily managerial or executive and actually performed. A share register, subscription agreements, a capitalisation table and board minutes are what establish that the Canadian and U.S. entities stand in a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship. A new operation abroad is normally approved initially for one year with evidence of secured premises and the capacity to support the role, and the managerial classification carries a seven-year outer limit. Owner or major-stockholder cases also require the applicable temporary-service and subsequent foreign-assignment evidence. The U.S. position must be primarily managerial or executive: setting plant policy, directing supervisors, controlling hiring and budget. An executive directs management, sets goals and policies, exercises wide latitude in discretionary decision-making, and answers only to general supervision from owners or a board. Will the U.S. role be primarily managerial or executive, measured by what the person decides and who they direct rather than by the title on the organisation chart?
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.